Gary Neville criticised Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana after the draw with Manchester City, claiming his approach during the derby was unacceptable.
The Manchester derby, one of the most anticipated fixtures of the season, barely got going on Sunday and finished goalless.
Sky Sports co-commentator Neville described the game as ‘depressing’ and said it summed up the increasingly ‘robotic nature’ of Premier League football.
Old Trafford legend Neville highlighted Onana’s dithering approach on the ball to empathise his point and said that approach ‘is not what we do here’.
‘I don’t think there was one player from either side who walked off the pitch at the end who was disappointed,’ Neville said on Sky Sports. ‘It was really disappointing.
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‘I apologise for my co-commentary. I think I let it get to me. I think l was boring on there as well.
‘This robotic nature of not leaving our positions, of being micromanaged within an inch of our lives, of not having any freedom to take a risk to go and try and win a football match, it’s becoming an illness in the game, it’s becoming a disease in the game.
‘Pep Guardiola and his teams over the last 10 years, that’s what his teams do. But we’re seeing poor imitations of that across the board now.
‘United’s goalkeeper [Onana] rolling his foot on the ball and waiting for things to happen. That’s not it, that’s not what this club is, that’s not what we do here.
‘Liverpool don’t do that. You’ve got to be a top team with tempo in your play, rhythm in your play, get the ball moving, shift it quickly.
‘The game today really was quite depressing for me, because I think we’ve seen a lot of these types of games.
‘And the Premier League is about excitement, it’s about thrill, it’s about risk. And there was nothing like that in that game, so that’s not good enough.’
The ex-England defender added: ‘The game today was quite depressing. We are seeing a lot of these type of games.
‘The Premier League is about excitement, thrill and risk. There was nothing like that today – and that’s not good enough.’
The stalemate in Manchester leaves United 13th in the Premier League, while City stay fifth, on point behind Chelsea, who drew with Brentford earlier in the day.
Guardiola assesses Manchester derby
Assessing Man City’s performance, Pep Guardiola said: ‘They are a good team, but we take the point. So we have got to be better to win.
‘We know all the time against 5-4-1, is always difficult. They defend narrow here, allowed to outside the jam.
‘Since many, many years, I’m playing against 5-4-1, defence in deep. So it’s not new and always, we were able to do it all the quality of the players, the talent to do it.
‘But this is an extra that I cannot expect because they can play badly. They just we should be in the same position that we are not.
‘They try, but we are not good enough you know to hurt them or punish them a little bit more.’
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